Liberal Forum

Tom Barrack Apologizes After Saying Criticism of Khashoggi Murder Is a ‘Mistake’

Tom Barrack, the investor who grew to national prominence through his vocal defenses of Donald Trump, now finds himself in an uproar of his own making.

The president’s longtime friend drew swift rebukes in Washington this week by declaring it a mistake to judge Saudi Arabia for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist dismembered inside one of the kingdom’s consulates last year. Barrack, who often appears on television to counter criticism of Trump’s statements and policies, quickly apologized for his own words.

Khashoggi’s murder “was atrocious and is inexcusable,” Barrack, the head of investment firm Colony Capital Inc., said Wednesday in an emailed statement. “I apologize for not making it clear at the time that I consider the killing reprehensible.”

Speaking in the Middle East on Tuesday, Barrack had said that “whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal or worse to the atrocities in Saudi Arabia.”

“The atrocities in any autocratic country are dictated by the rule of law,” he said at a Milken Institute summit in Abu Dhabi. “So for us to dictate what we think is the moral code there when we have a young man and a regime that’s trying to push themselves into 2030 I think is a mistake.”